ADVANCING ELECTROCHEMICAL PATHWAYS FOR UPCYCLING CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS INTO SOLID CARBONATES AND SYNGAS
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Advancing sustainable chemical pathways for upcycling carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to high value products is essential for meeting our resource needs while limiting detrimental environmental impacts. To address this challenge, earth abundant resources such as brine and magnesium silicate, CO2 emissions, and electricity are harnessed to co – produce solid carbonates as building blocks in sustainable construction, hydrogen (H2) as energy carriers, and syngas (a mixture of CO and H2) as a building block to produce liquid fuels. These advances are made possible by the increasing availability of low-cost renewable energy sources for developing electrochemical pathways.Specific contributions of this dissertation include: (1) electrochemical pathways to co – produce high purity calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide from earth abundant brines, (2) development of the direct brine electrolysis approach to co – produce acid (e.g., HCl), base (e.g., NaOH), and energy carriers (e.g., H2) with the view to harness acid and base as reagents for CO2 capture and conversion, (3) insights into the structural and morphological evolution of the by-products including Mg(OH)2 and silica obtained from electrochemical dissolution of magnesium silicate, (4) pathways to tune the structural and morphological features of precipitated calcium carbonate using vortex flows, and (5) reactive CO2 capture and conversion approach to produce syngas, as a building block for liquid fuels. Overall, this dissertation provides insight into leveraging electrochemical techniques to convert waste streams into value-added industrial feedstocks, contributing to sustainable, low-carbon development.